Thermaltake and GlobalWin

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With many people making the migration from AMD to Intel Northwoods, they overlook the fact that a new heat sink is needed. Not only that, a good heat sink is needed. However, a good heat sink nowadays costs more than what people can afford--up to $50. Here are two heat sinks that are compatible with both the AMD processors and Intel processors. It's a Thermaltake vs. Globalwin showdown.

Thermaltake Volcano 7+

Thermaltake has been making heat sinks ever since their first orb. What a unique design that was but it failed to perform. Their GPU coolers are quite exceptional though. The Volcano 7+ came packaged well. The funny thing was that it had cartoon pictures. I don't see how it would attract attention for hardcore overclockers like us. I guess we'll have to ask their marketing team to know the answer. The heat sink itself was eye catching though. It looked badass. The silver shroud enclosed the copper fins and base and had a nice touch of design for the fan grill. The copper area of the heat sink was exceptionally shiny. There are enough fins to give extra surface area and still provide ample room for air to circulate. The fins were skived and were not soldered onto the base of the heat sink. This gives better heat transfer from the base to the fins, which in turn, should work better. The bottom of the heat sink was very shiny--a mirror finish. Packaged with the heat sink was a bag of screws and brackets that allowed the option of using the heat sink on an AMD based system or an Intel based system.

The Fan

The fan used with the Thermaltake Volcano 7+ was their own 70mm Thermaltake fan. With the fan came the fan control. This is to give users the option to run a nice quiet system or run the fan at full speed utilizing the full potential of the heat sink and thus allowing the user to overclock higher. Here are the detailed specs of the fan off of Thermaltake's website:

Fan Dimension

70x70x25 mm

Rated Voltage

12VDC

Started Voltage

7.0VDC

Rated Current

0.55 AMP Max.

Power Input

6.6 W Max.

Fan Speed switch Cable :H,M,L Fan Speed

FAN Speed

H: 6000 rpm

M:4800 rpm

L:3000 rpm

Max. Air Flow

49.0CFM

Noise

H 6000rpm@47 dB(A)

M 4800rpm@35 dB(A)

L 3000rpm@24 dB(A)

Bearing System

2 Ball bearing

Life Time

50,000 hours

Connector

3 PIN

Thermal Resistance

INTEL P4AMD XP

0.29C/W0.32C/W

According to the chart, running the fan at high speed is quite loud--a little too unbearable for my ears.

Globalwin CAK4

The Globalwin came packaged in a cardboard box, like most heat sinks do. The models I received from Globalwin were the CAK4-76T and the CAK4-86. The only difference between the two heat sinks were the included fans. Like the Thermaltake, they too have cartoon pictures, but this time on the heat sink itself. It's a picture of a mouse. The Chinese words on the heat sink shroud means "sky is mouse". Frankly, I have no idea what it means and why they put that. Maybe there are some hidden meanings behind it. Taking off the shroud reveals the heat sink fins and base. It looks almost identical to that of the Thermaltake. The bottom of the base is not as shiny as Thermaltake's but still shiny enough. Like the Thermaltake, the CAK4 has skived fins. The skived design is to provide better heat transfer from base to fin. Included with the package of the CAK4 were a bag of screws and bracket (for the P4), a small pack of white thermal grease, a small instructions booklet, and a globalwin case sticker.

The Fan

The fans that were included varied with model. The CAK4-76T came with a small 70mm white clear fan that uses a thermal probe for fan control. The thermal probe was placed between a small soft sponge and a fin. I think it's a rather good idea. It controls the fan speed according to the temperature of the heat sink, rather than case temperature like some heat sinks out there with temperature control. Here are the fan specs grabbed off of Globalwin's site.

Sensor Temperature

30°C

38°C

Operation Voltage

DC 10.2 ~ 13.8 V

Rated Voltage

DC 12V

Input Current

0.2A MAX.

0.28A MAX.

Input Power

2.4W MAX.

3.36W MAX.

Bearing System

One Ball One Sleeve Bearing

Fan Speed(RPM)

3000±15 %

4500±15 %

Max. Air Delivery(CFM)

23.1± 15 %

36± 15 %

Noise Level

24.7± 2dBA

35± 2dBA

Fan Safety

UL Approved

Fan with RPM signal output

Yes

The CAK4-86 came with the well known 80mm x 38mm Delta FFB0812SHE. IT IS ANNOYINGLY LOUD! Since the heat sink uses 70mm fans, the need of a bracket was required. Globalwin included their 70mm-80mm fan bracket called Blue Tai Chi. It is quite easy to install. Here is the detailed specs of the fan.

Operation Voltage

DC 7 ~ 13.8 V

Rated Voltage

DC 12V

Input Current

0.69A MAX.

Input Power

8.28W MAX.

Bearing System

Two Ball Bering

Fan Speed(RPM)

4900±15 % RPM

Max. Air Delivery(CFM)

68.51(MIN.61.45)CFM

Noise Level

48.5(MAX. 52.5)dBA

Fan Safety

UL Approved

Fan with RPM signal output

Yes

Looking closely, the speed of the Delta fan and the Thermaltake 70mm fan at high speed produces almost the same dBA.

Let's head over the the 2nd and final page to look at performance and wrap this review/comparison up...